On May 24, Bulgaria celebrates the day of Bulgarian Education and Culture, and Slavonic Literature. A monument in front of the national library in Sofia commemorates the creators of the first alphabet of the Slavic people - brothers Cyril and Methodius. The Cyrillic alphabet used in Bulgaria today descended from the original Glagolic alphabet that they created.
Official statistics show Bulgarian is used by nearly nine million people living in Bulgaria and other countries. Bulgarian is similar to other South Slavonic languages, such as Serbian and Macedonian. Bulgarian and Macedonian are so close that people from the two countries can understand each other without interpreting.
Bulgarian is classified as an Indo-European language, a member of the southern branch of Slavonic languages. A number of dialects can still be observed in different regions of the country. Globalisation, naturally, has had its effects on Bulgarian through the introduction of various foreign words that have become part of everyday speech.